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Show OPINIONS 8.24.2009 My opinion on opinions DAVID SELF NEWLIN Opinions editor I had an interesting experience the other night - one which I hope will be repeated often. Some friends and I were discussing politics jovially and passionately (not to mention loudly) outside my house around 11 P.M. or so. All of a sudden, a couple from the neighboring apartment complex popped their heads out and joined the discussion. We ended up talking well into the night about all sorts of things, and from many very different perspectives. When we were done, we all still disagreed, but we were no longer simply people living next to one another on isolated little islands — we were friends who understood much more about one another in serious (and fun) ways. We were neighbors in the best sense of the word. This is what I hope to create in the opinions section at the Review. As opinions editor, I strive to avoid onesidedly lecturing my readers with my own views (though I'll never hesitate to express them) — I want real, deep, serious discussion on issues from every relevant perspective: right, left, gay, straight, conservative, liberal, socialist, capitalist; any and all views. There will not always be agreement, a consensus, or a clear path. However, this is not the job of the opinions sec- side or a different take on something as long as there is someone willing to write it on the page, and as such, every idea should eventually be expressed. So, I implore every reader out there to pick up a pen, or start typing, and join in the fantastic discussion which is the opinions page. Show others why they are wrong, why they are right, or explain what issues really mean for our community. Here we can all make good arguments, disagree, agree, expand our understanding, and have a lot of fun doing it. Check out the little box at the bottom of the page A7 for info on how to submit letters or join the staff, and then do it! tion — our job here is to get people talking and to make good arguments. I want it to create not only good discussions, but to make our community better and friendlier, especially when we seriously disagree. If there is something happening at the V, this is the place for everyone to bring it. This doesn't always mean that everyone can speak at once. There won't always be a pro side and a con side of every issue on every page because ideas deserve to be heard on their own terms and as fully as they can be, independent of the burned-in heuristics which we use to make decisions on a regular basis. But there will always be an opposing Trent Bates/UVU Review Spring has sprung. Fall has fell. Guide to making sense ROBSTEFFEN Video producer It's back. We're back, I mean. The annual migration of late teens and twenty-somethings from parents' basements into overpriced, college-accessible housing has reached its peak. The D.I. is crowded on Wednesdays again, and the bookstore staff are cashing their fat, fat paychecks, with a lack of shame rivaled only by Disney and Lucifer himself. A new semester is upon us. Not all of us are back, though. Some have never been. For you freshman, I imagine it all seems novel, fresh, and exciting. It isn't, but I get why you think it is:. New school, new people, new kinds of stains to leave on your friends' couches, all of it seems just terribly romantic, doesn't it? " It isn't. Reconcile yourself to that. Don't be fooled. Not much has changed. Most of your education is on subjects you don't care about, but you've got to pass the class so you can take the advanced course in the subject you don't really care about. Everything costs too much, you make too little, you have too much to do and not enough time to do it, everyone is smarter than you, everyone is better than you, and there's every indication that when you've finally earned your degree you'll march straight into the soul-crushing McCareer that will consume your hopes, dreams, days and decades. And yet... The real object lesson of this article is this: stay in school. Not for the reasons you grew up listening to in so many .A.R.E.-sponsored assemblies. Let me be the one to break it to you - your future is not so bright that you need to wear sunglasses. Take them off, Oakleys are for poseurs anyways. No, there's a more compelling reason: It is mighty scary out there. I don't know if you've read anything about our CURRENT ECONOMIC CRISIS, but it's huge. Huge, all-encompassing, and here to stay fora while. I don't know about you, but selling apples out of the barrel that doubles as my apartment at night doesn't sound too great. It's definitely not as comfortable as my own personal government bailout, in the form of a Pell grant, supporting the sixth year of my four-year degree. That's the real secret to success in this market, or at least the delay of inevitable failure. Stay a student forever. It's good in here, and very bad out there. ANDY SHERWIN Opinions writer There's a popular axiom that dictates (in a G-rated form, anyway), "Opinions are like [armpits]. Everyone has them, and they all stink." While this is obviously not 100% true (some people have no armpits, while some armpits smell quite lovely), there lies an indisputable chunk of truth in that meme. Because this is the Opinion section, there is certainly a small sting whenever it is said/ written/told to me by my editor. What's a boy to do? First, it's important to recognize that the statement is probably more untrue than it is true. Despite what I see on both MSNBC and Fox News, I think that most people, including the student body at UVU, have intelligent, reasonable, fact-based opinions. To prove myself right (something at which I am very, very good), here's a handy list of things that the fine readers of the UVU Review can continue to do in their writings to us in order to continue my high esteem of them: 1 - Ignorant people .often hide behind the "Well, .' that's just, like, my opinion, man." That won't hold. If someone tells you that the earth is flat, remind them that they are incorrect. If they state that the ;. earth being flat is their opinion, remember that while they are welcome to their opinion, that doesn't mean that they're not wrong. An opinion is no excuse to .; ignore logic, reason, science, or fact. 2 - Speaking of facts, you ought to be using v them as often as possible. If you think that Obama '"' is a Kenyan-bom Muslim terrorist, find us the birth certificate. ,„--.,.-.,-.; i, ,,.,-. ,„:•„,.; A » avoid Word M 3 . This one's a bit sensitive, but it's importaht:it. just because the Bible says something, doesn't >$ mean you can use that as evidence in anything -$ but a theological or religious debate. Same goes* . *; for the Qur'an, Book of Mormon or your favorite ••; Dashboard Confessional lyric.. JV This week's word: Education DAVID SELF NEWLIN Opinions editor You might think this is a silly topic. We all know what education is. For the most part we do. Education is obviously learning, understanding, acquiring skills, knowledge, and expertise. But why? How? What are you doing here? How are you getting the knowledge you ostensibly desire and how are you going to use it? This is no trifling question. Probably the most popular answer to the primary question above is this: "Getting an education gets you a job, and I really want a friggin' job." In other words, you are here now reading this because you want to be a doctor someday, and being a doctor requires a bacca- laureate degree. You want to make money, is what it comes down to. 1 can't blame you. I'd love some money (if you have any, please send me a money order. For real). There is something nasty about this market-oriented view of education, though. It seems to ignore the entire history not only of the word "education" but also of the history of the educational activity. The word comes from, of course, a Latin word which means to "lead out" (ex-ducere). This means two things: first, the sense of "lead out" is something more like "tease out" or "bring out from." In other words, you are teasing out knowledge from the various books, texts, teachers, exercises or whatever you happen to be doing in and out of class. This is to say that you are responsible for your education since only you can do the teasing. No one is at this institution to simply bestow an education upon you like a tool that you then use to churn money from our economy into your pocket. You make your own way; education is the activity primarily of the student, rather than the job of the teacher. Second, if education is an activity of the student, something you should be engaging in actively rather than passively, it seems to me that the goal of this activity is not simply to make money. After all, learning as an activity far predates economies such as ours, or even the idea of a job. Just trying to get into a career as fast as possible can only be part of the story by defini- tion. What then is the point of education? I think it is something like this: to become human. The goal should be the goal of a traditional "liberal education" (note to conservatives; liberal does not mean what you probably think it means in this context). Education is a way in which we find a way to orient and place ourselves properly in the realm of other people (we live in a society people!): it is coming to find out not just what you will do, but . what you are going to make yourself into. So maybe you should think about that, here at the beginning of the semester, and before the various procrastinated assignments pile up later on. What are you doing here? How will you make yourself? 4 . Don't be obstinate. If you think homosexu-••:'•£ ality is a disease, that may be your opinion, but -v you're wrong (see #1-3, or anything the American : ^ Psychological Association has published in the > : \ last, I don't know, 36 years). In other words, it's ; okay to change your mind sometimes. -. ^ ^ ^,:: -;y$ 5 . Some opinions are, in fact, matters I have a friend that prefers The Beatles to Led •:$$ Zeppelin. In my view, whether or not I agree has no bearing on whether or not his opinion is actually wrong, as both are great bands and deserve our respect. & . • ' - • » - • ' - • •" - • .-. :.••••'• •. r. i ' . - / . . - - . . : : . 1 - , - , ; ; . - - - ^ , - - . *->.•. .••. • ; • • • • ; • \ • . - - • " . ' - - • • _ -' : , : • • . — • , • • • . • „ . i " • • - - . - •:•- • * . • ' • • • ; -., -••!= i i i r •'.-. 7 ' * ? w , ' • - • r r - ' ' - A O . Despite #5, things that sometimes appear to #g be matters of taste are, in fact, not. You can love -j§ the story of Twilight as much as you want, but it's >'] still a terrible, terrible book, and you know it. : &$ If you see something in the paper that you love, write in and tell us. If you see something you hate, write in and tell us. We want to hear what our readers, the only people that really matter to us and our enterprise, think. Hold us accountable if we break any of the above. For the record, we think you're pretty great. Here's to the fall semester. |